Hunt for Fundamental Causes_

Depletion added to isolation, and later tending toward degeneracy, is what
makes the rural problem acute. It is the growth of the city which has made
the problem serious. If we would discover a constructive policy for
handling this problem successfully by making country life worth while, and
better able to compete with the city, then we must find out why the boys
and girls go to the big towns and why their parents rent the farm and
move into the village.

For two generations there has been a mighty life-current toward the
cities, sweeping off the farm many of the brightest boys and most
ambitious girls in all the country-side, whom the country could ill afford
to spare. The city needed many of them doubtless; but not all, for it has
not used all of them well. Everywhere the country has suffered from the
loss of them. Why did they go? It is evident that a larger proportion of
the brightest country boys and girls must be kept on the farms if the
rural communities are to hold their own and the new rural civilization
really have a chance to develop as it should.

_The Unfortunate Urbanizing of Rural Life_

As a rule the whole _educational_ trend is toward the city. The teachers
of rural schools are mostly from the larger villages and towns where they
have caught the city fever, and they infect the children. Even in the
lower grades the stories of city life begin early to allure the country
children, and with a subtle suggestion the echoes of the distant city's
surging life come with all the power of the Arabian Nights tales. Early
visits to the enchanted land of busy streets and wonderful stores and
factories, the circus and the theater, deepen the impression, and the
fascination grows.

In proportion to the nearness to the city, there has been a distinct
urbanizing of rural life. To a degree this has been well. It has raised
the standard of comfort in country homes and has had a distinct influence
in favor of real culture and a higher plane of living. But the impression
has come to prevail widely that the city is the source of all that is
interesting, profitable and worth while, until many country folks have
really come to think meanly of themselves and their surroundings, taking
the superficial city estimate of rural values as the true one.

A real slavery to city fashions has been growing insidiously in the
country. So far as this has affected the facial adornments of the farmer,
it